Journal of Fungi Review Recent Advances in Genome Editing Tools in Medical Mycology Research Sanaz Nargesi 1 , Saeed Kaboli 2,3,* , Jose Thekkiniath 4,*, Somayeh Heidari 5 , Fatemeh Keramati 6, Seyedmojtaba Seyedmousavi 5,7 and Mohammad Taghi Hedayati 1,5,* 1 Department of Medical Mycology, School of Medicine, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Sari 481751665, Iran;
[email protected] 2 Department of Medical Biotechnology, School of Medicine, Zanjan University of Medical Sciences, Zanjan 4513956111, Iran 3 Cancer Gene Therapy Research Center, Zanjan University of Medical Sciences, Zanjan 4513956111, Iran 4 Fuller Laboratories, 1312 East Valencia Drive, Fullerton, CA 92831, USA 5 Invasive Fungi Research Center, Communicable Diseases Institute, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Sari 481751665, Iran;
[email protected] (S.H.);
[email protected] (S.S.) 6 Department of Pathobiology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Urmia University, Urmia 5756151818, Iran;
[email protected] 7 Clinical Center, Microbiology Service, Department of Laboratory Medicine, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA * Correspondence:
[email protected] (S.K.);
[email protected] (J.T.);
[email protected] (M.T.H.) Abstract: Manipulating fungal genomes is an important tool to understand the function of tar- get genes, pathobiology of fungal infections, virulence potential, and pathogenicity of medically important fungi, and to develop novel diagnostics and therapeutic targets. Here, we provide an overview of recent advances in genetic manipulation techniques used in the field of medical mycol- Citation: Nargesi, S.; Kaboli, S.; ogy. Fungi use several strategies to cope with stress and adapt themselves against environmental Thekkiniath, J.; Heidari, S.; Keramati, effectors. For instance, mutations in the 14 alpha-demethylase gene may result in azole resistance in F.; Seyedmousavi, S.; Hedayati, M.T.